


As the water ripples, the tides will change

by LegaciesandMemories



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Bonding, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Kidnapping, The Uzumaki clan find out there's another Uzumaki in Konoha, They're not thrilled at what they find, Uzumaki Naruto Gets a Hug, Uzumaki Naruto Needs a Hug, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, Worldbuilding, don't worry it's chill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29650887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegaciesandMemories/pseuds/LegaciesandMemories
Summary: They tell him about waking to the burble of whirlpools on the coast, fisherman singing songs on the harbor while they cast their nets made from glowing chains. They tell him of the sun painting the sea red, the Noh plays they put on of the yokai who roamed the seas and ghosts who flew through the skies. The gods they worshipped, and the songs they sing on their boats.“Tell me, Naruto-kun. If you had the chance to leave Konoha, would you?"
Relationships: Konoha Citizens & Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Clan & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 11
Kudos: 134





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> not me back at it with another fix-it oneshot lmao

It’s five more days before Naruto gets another part of his orphan stipend, his pants have a rip from knee to ankle, and his grocery bag is torn. 

They’re three separate facts, randomly joined together, like the pants and shirt he has on today. In reality, besides the tracksuit from Jiji, clothes (people are willing to sell him) are rather hard to find.  
  
Together though, these three facts are the reasons why today is miserable. 

His trip to the market starts early, so early that he does not sleep beforehand in anticipation. He usually restricts his trips to nighttime, but the fruits are squishy and taste funny. And if he wants to eat for the week, he can’t go to Ichiraku’s for at least a few days. 

Naruto decides mornings are the best of both worlds—if gets there before anyone else, and leaves before anyone else, the people at the market won’t get too mad, right? 

(Right? He needs to be right on this one.)

He slips out of the apartment building silently, and begins his walk. The sun has _just_ started to rise, and there are so few people out that besides a few looks, Naruto feels like everyone else. 

The people of the market are still setting up their stands for the day, and naruto waits in one of the alleyways. Sound is always better than silence, people looking is always better than them turning away, even if they’re not friendly. 

But sometimes...he likes to watch for the _Moments_. Because everyone is nice, and they show it so often to everyone else, except him. 

Naruto watches the sun cast gold rays on the fisherman who always glares at him, and he sees the first one: the woman selling watermelons (whose watermelons must be made of gold, because they’re always so expensive for him) knocks one over as she fixes her sign. The fisherman, without missing a beat, lurches forward to grab it. 

He misses, but miraculously, the watermelon did not crack. Watermelon Lady and Mr. Fisherman laugh together, and Watermelon Lady washes off the watermelon and borrows a clean knife from the butcher. She doles out expertly sliced pieces to the other owners, who thank her. 

Naruto’s stomach rumbles. 

The second moment is only a few minutes later: the girl who came with her father to sell peaches and apples jumps up to help the old man selling buns. The old man laughs, pats her head, and gives her a bun for free. 

The next takes time. But one of the masked ninjas, the ones who hang around jiji’s office, strolls through with a grocery bag, and the woman selling cuts of beef begins to wrap some without the masked ninja even asking. She smiles as the ninja hands over their money. 

Naruto swallows, and tightens his grip on his bag. The Moments are warm, maybe not for him, but he thinks of them when Watermelon Lady hikes her prices or Mr. Fisherman tells him he has nothing left to sell when he still has carp left. 

People are nice. They may not be nice to him, but they can be nice when they want to be. One day, he’ll learn to be good enough so that they’re nice to him too. 

With one last shaky breath, he walks into the market. He can feel conversations stop. The looks come next. Naruto continues to walk in silence. 

When he goes up to Watermelon Lady and asks for the prices, the fruits are suddenly three times more expensive than he was expecting, but he looks at the harsh lines of her face and remembers her laugh with the fisherman. He thanks her anyways, and walks over to the fisherman. 

When he goes and asks the fisherman for 2 fish, the fisherman pauses, glances at the mask ninja over by the peaches, and names his price. This time, the fisherman does have fish to sell, but they’re small and not very cheap. Naruto could get fish like this from the streams in the forest, but this is the first time the fisherman has ever sold anything to him. He beams wide as he hands over half his money. 

His total haul is two fish and some roughed-up apples. He’ll take it. 

And the day would have been good, _great,_ even, if he hadn’t tripped on his own pant leg. 

As he turns, the pant leg rips, he goes down, and the fish and apples tumble out of the bag. The apples are salvageable, he thinks, but the fish? Not so much. 

There’s a snicker behind him. The fisherman smiles, and the mask ninja is long gone. Naruto’s face is hot. 

He should have just gotten Ichiraku’s. 

Still, he grabs as many fallen apples as he can, and shoves them in his pockets. He’ll have to find sewing thread for his pants, and he doesn’t have enough money for a sewing kit. 

Naruto swallows roughly, and walks away. 

But as he’s turning the corner, there’s another hand on his arm. Naruto flinches— 

“Ah, it may be better to just get a new bag. Here you go!” 

Naruto stares into an unfamiliar face. Not from the features, but the short brown hair and dark blue eyes are far different from anyone he’s seen. 

That’s not it. The face is unfamiliar because it’s…

The woman _smiles_ , and holds out a bag. It’s new, woven, and already looks a bit full. “I saw you put those apples in your pockets. They get even more banged up that way. You can use my bag.” 

Naruto stares. She’s not laughing. He peers into the bag, and he sees the wrappings of fish and beef. Far more than he’d ever be able to afford. 

“You… those are your groceries,” Naruto whispers. The woman shrugs, still holding out the bag. 

“It looks like you might need it more. I don’t mind! It’s fine.” She shakes the bag, almost teasingly. “Those apples need a new home.”

Jiji says he’s not supposed to talk to strangers. Naruto doesn’t know why. If they’re strangers, if they’ve never met before, then maybe they won’t look at him with those eyes yet. And that’s enough for Naruto. 

_And she’s already been so nice…_

With trembling hands, Naruto takes the bag. She doesn’t pull back. His stomach feels warm, and he gives her a small smile. 

“Thank you.” That’s what he’s supposed to say, right? People don’t _do_ things for him. 

But… this must be one of those Moments, right? 

She smiles, and ruffles his hair. 

“You’re welcome, kiddo.” 

* * *

He burns the beef, but eats every bite with a smile on his face. 

None of it tastes funny. 

* * *

He sees the woman often, but just in flashes. Outside the Academy, on one of his trips to the store, and again at the market. She never frowns. Instead she beams wide, and in the case there was another person with her, a man with brown eyes and black hair, they both wave. Naruto grins back. 

It’s on his trip to the forest that the woman reappears. He’s been hunting for fish, and she seems to appear from the shadows. 

“You never told me your name,” Naruto blurts out. She blinks, before laughing. 

“I didn’t. My name is Rumi.” 

“What’s your last name?” Naruto says. She may be nice, but he wasn’t a total idiot. 

Rumi’s eyebrows scrunched, as she stared at him for a moment. She smiled. 

“I’ll tell you soon, okay? But not right now.” She doesn’t look like she’s lying, so Naruto drops it. She stares down at his fake fishing rod. 

"What you got there, Uzumaki-kun?” 

Naruto jolts. “I didn’t tell you _my_ name.” 

For a moment, surprise flickers on her face, then it's gone. “You didn’t,” she agrees. She points to his jacket, wrinkled and dirty from a day outside. “But you’re wearing the Uzumaki crest right there.” 

_Uzumaki crest?_

Naruto stares hard at the spiral. The woman sits next to him, silent. 

“Did no one ever tell you about the Uzumaki?” 

Naruto shakes his head wordlessly. The woman’s features contort to something familiar, something _angry_ , before they smooth out. She looks up at the setting sun. 

“Well, would you like me to?” 

Naruto’s eyes are wide. He’s bobbing his head rapidly before he can stop himself. The woman laughs, but her eyes are sad. 

“Okay. Well, the Uzumaki were—” 

She pauses, and squints out into the forest. 

“I have to go,” she says suddenly. “But I promise I’ll tell you the next time me or Kosuke sees you. Let’s let it be our secret for now, alright?”

Naruto doesn’t know who Kosuke is, but Rumi-san stares at him seriously. He nods anyway. 

The woman flashes away, but unlike the times he’s seen other ninja flash away, with a flurry of leaves, she leaves with a burst of humidity. He stares at the place she sat for a moment, before he hears a rustle in the bushes. 

Jiji steps out with a smile. “It’s warm out here,” he remarks. He stares at Naruto’s fish, still on the fire, and smiles. 

“Would you like some help with that?” 

* * *

The next time he’s in the forest, he meets Kosuke, the black-haired man. Kosuke doesn’t say as much, but what he says rings in Naruto's head. 

“The Uzumaki lived far away from here, on an island where the whirlpools raged,” Kosuke starts. He’s brought beef with him, and it cooks next to the fish on the flames. 

“Their gods watched them from the stars. They fished, just like we do, and they were great sensors.” 

Naruto drinks the words in. “Sensors?” He asks. Kosuke nods. 

“They could feel the chakra of other people from far off distances.” Kosuke’s head tilts, and some black hair falls out of his bun. “Can you close your eyes for me?” 

Naruto does so without hesitation. 

“Breathe in, and breathe out,” Kosuke says quietly. “Listen to the river, and the birds above. Can you hear them?” 

He bobs his head. Kosuke chuckles. 

“Good, Naruto-kun.” 

It’s not a joke. There’s honest praise in his tone, and Naruto opens his eyes, shocked, to meet Kosuke’s amused ones. 

“You still have to close your eyes,” the man says, and Naruto complies. 

“Listen to the animals, and the wind, and keep breathing. Soon, you’ll feel it.”

 _It?_ Still, Naruto listens for the animals, the wind, the leaves crunching in the distance. The breeze has just started to blow in, and the squirrels a few feet away knock into one of the tall oak trees. Naruto feels himself begin to relax, and somewhere in between listening to the rush of the river and what may have been a raccoon, something _switches._

For a moment, he can feel it—life, small and light from the squirrels, burning brightly from Kosuke, and even the fish. 

Naruto gasps, and his eyes pop open. Next to him, Kosuke beams, ruffling his hair. 

“Look at you! That’s the Uzushio in you already.” 

Naruto can’t stop grinning. 

* * *

Maybe he should tell Jiji about Kosuke and Rumi, but he doesn’t. They look at him without any fear, or anger, they smile and teach him tricks and sneak him dango and tell him stories. When Rumi kisses his cheek and Kosuke ruffles his hair, Naruto feels so full he could burst. 

He doesn’t want to jeopardize that. So he rambles about nothing to Jiji, nothing of forest visits and groceries. Naruto still receives the orphan allowance, but he has enough money now that he can go up to Watermelon Lady and buy one if he really wants to, and not regret his decision. 

Besides, Jiji has a lot to do anyways. He probably wouldn’t care about Naruto's new friends. 

* * *

Kosuke and Rumi tell him all about a magical village called Uzushio, the home of the Uzumaki. _(Clan, there’s a clan and they’re scattered but they’re there.)_

“Uzumaki Rumi,” she says one day with a small smile, before jabbing a thumb at Kosuke. “And this is my best friend, Uzumaki Kosuke.” 

Naruto lets out a small squeak. 

They tell him about waking to the burble of whirlpools on the coast, fisherman singing songs on the harbor while they cast their nets made from glowing chakra chains. The sun painting the sea red, the Noh plays they put on of the yokai who roamed the seas and ghosts who flew through the skies. The four gods they worshipped, and the songs they sing on their boats.

“ _When the sea called the shore, the gods were watching, watching,_ ” Rumi sings. He’d have to go home soon, but Naruto was drowsy and warm by the fire. 

“ _Where the sea called the shore, the gods mailed me home_ ,” Naruto yawns back. 

Kosuke laughs. “It’s _sailed,_ Naruto.” 

Rumi’s ever-present smile widens. “Enough for tonight. Alright, hatchling, let’s get you home.” 

Kosuke swings Naruto onto his back, and he dozes in and out, with the new but ever comforting feeling of safety. They begin the trek out of the forest. When they reach the edge, Kosuke and Rumi still. Kosuke immediately puts him down. 

“We’ll see you soon,” Rumi promises. “Remember Naruto, don’t tell anyone we’re here, okay?” 

Naruto nods drowsily, swaying as he stands. Kosuke looks conflicted. 

“It won’t always be like this,” Kosuke says softly, with burning eyes. “We just need a bit more time, and then—”

“Unless you want us to end up in Konoha’s prison, we need to go. _Now_.” Rumi interrupts.

With one last glance, they flash away in a burst of humidity. Five seconds or five minutes could have passed as Naruto stumbles away from the edge of the forest—

Right into the arms of one of the masked ninjas. 

* * *

JiJi’s not happy. 

He sits Naruto down the next day to say he shouldn’t stay out so late, that it’s not safe and anything could happen to him. 

Naruto doesn’t really agree. He has no one to come home to, and the forest is where Rumi and Kosuke will laugh with him and smile and fill him with so much warmth he feels like he’s floating for hours afterwards. 

Still, he nods along to what Jiji’s saying.

 _It won’t always be like this,_ Kosuke had said. Naruto dreams he lives in Uzushio with red sunsets and singing fisherman, and Kosuke and Rumi to come back to every day.

* * *

For the next few weeks, neither Rumi nor Kosuke come. Instead, a gray-haired masked ninja watches him day in and day out when he’s not at the Academy. He’s not paying attention, or not as much, anyways. 

(In Uzushio, Rumi tells him, they learn to walk on water first, and how to make these cool drawings called fuinjutsu. Naruto would rather learn that than who the four Hokages are.) 

Naruto uses his money sparingly to buy groceries, but he never runs out. He comes back to Gama-chan with a small drawing on his stomach. A _seal_ , like the ones Kosuke talked about. 

He puts chakra into it, and Gama-chan’s overflowing with cash. 

_Use it wisely, hatchling! We’ll be back soon._ is on a small note. 

Naruto grins widely. 

* * *

The next time he sees Rumi and Kosuke, almost a year since his morning trip to the market, both of them look at him with an odd sort of gravity. Rumi crouches to meet his height, and Naruto bulldozes her in a hug.

“Tell me, Naruto,” Rumi says cautiously, arms warm around him, “If you could live in Uzushio with us, would you?” 

Naruto stares immediately. “You said Uzushio was gone.”

Kosuke’s head moves left and right. He shifts in place. “True, and untrue. It’s….in repair.” 

Naruto’s eyes grow round. Uzushio, in the stories, sounded like heaven on earth. 

“You—you’d really want to take me?” 

Rumi pulls back, and studies him with warm eyes. She looks over his head at Kosuke, and back at him. And her face changes. 

Her skin is shades darker, and hair the color of blood falls to her waist. Her eyes are darker, less like his, closer to purple. Naruto gasps, and turns to Kosuke, whose hair is red but much lighter. As he smiles, gray eyes crinkle. 

“Of course we would. But if you would like to stay in Konoha, we understand.” Her face contorts at that.

Naruto’s nose wrinkles. It’s not that Konoha was a bad place. It wasn’t, really! It was filled with Moments and people were happy and nice and it wasn’t for him, not really, but sometimes Iruka-sensei got ramen with him and sometimes Teuchi-san gave him a free bowl and Jiji gave him money every other week. 

He’d miss them. But…. for the magical shores, and the fisherman songs, and Kosuke and Rumi with him every day….

“I— _please?_ ” Naruto says to the forest floor. “Please, can we go?” 

Rumi smiles widely, and he’s crushed into a hug. 

* * *

Rumi and Kosuke come to the forest more, with red hair and tan skin. The hair of the clan, Rumi explains, too noticeable to be shown. Naruto runs his hands through it with awe.

This time, there are plans. Rumi is convinced the village won’t want him to go, which Naruto doesn’t understand because they don’t like him at all, but he nods along anyway. Kosuke says they’ll leave in two weeks, and Naruto should only take things he can’t live without. 

In the two weeks, he wanders around the village. 

He’ll miss Jiji, and his rumbling voice, and the way he laughed with Naruto. He’ll miss Iruka-sensei’s talks over ramen, and the way that he looked at Naruto with something like pride if he ever got an answer right. He’ll miss Teuchi’s warm laugh. Heck, he’d even miss his classmates. 

But there was _family,_ and they were so close, and in a few days, Naruto could come home to people who wanted him there, who smiled and laughed every time they saw him. 

He couldn’t wait. 

* * *

The day of his planned escape, Naruto packs Gama-chan, a cup of ramen, and his spare tracksuit. He runs his hands over the bumps and nicks of his apartment, a place he’s lived in for the past two years, and sheds a few tears. 

He’d miss it, all of it, but not enough to stay. 

Naruto goes to class, and decides to go through the day quietly. People stare at him. Sound is always better than silence, but today, it’s okay. He watches Iruka-sensei laugh with the rest of the class. He looks happy. Naruto hopes he won't be mad when he finds out Naruto's gone. 

He sits on the swing one last time during recess, and allows himself to swing as far and laugh as loudly as he could. Only a little while longer. 

* * *

When night falls, Kosuke and Rumi end up in his room. Rumi puts a seal on the door, flares her chakra, and turns back to him. Naruto grins, just a bit nervous. 

“All set?” Kosuke asks, black hair whipping back and forth as he looks over the apartment. Naruto didn’t clean up, just like they told him to. He nods. 

Kosuke turns to Rumi, who also has her henge up. “Do it.” 

Rumi puts her hands together for a few short seals. “Kage Bunshin!”

There’s a puff of smoke, and five clones of _himself_ are in front of him. Rumi smiles, and whips out a scroll. There’s a few quick strokes of ink on paper, and the five clones are slapped with a seal. It disappears in a few moments. 

“Cool,” Naruto breathes. “What does it do?” 

“It’s essentially a storage seal, filled with chakra,” Rumi explains, shoving four of the clones into the closet. “The clone is fed that chakra to sustain itself. As long as it’s not doing a lot of activity, each of these should last at least a week, maybe two. Which is more than enough time for us to get out of here and get back to Uzu.” 

“Can you teach me that?” 

Kosuke ruffles his hair. “When we get to the island, there’ll be a ton more sealing work you have to do before you get to that level. You’ll be sticking with basic seals for right now.”

Naruto groans, but he’s smiling too hard. 

“Speaking of storage seals, I need your bag.” 

Naruto gives Kosuke his grocery bag, filled with gama chan and his clothes, and Kosuke pulls back a dark sleeve to show the curves of sealing tattoos. 

“Woah,” Naruto breathes. Kosuke chuckles and places his other hand on the seal. The lines glow, and the bag disappears. 

As per their plan, Naruto heads into the forest, with two rather inconspicuous squirrels after him. He follows a familiar trail to the river, and, holding his breath, jumps in. 

The Naka will take him out of the village, they explained, and the chakra of the river should keep him from being discovered. He just needed to stay quiet. Above him, two robins charted his path. 

The flow of the river carried him away, towards the outskirts of the village.

It _would_ have worked. But a hand stopped his path, wrangling him out of the river with surprisingly strong hands.

Wide black eyes stare at him. A woman looks at him like she’s seen a ghost. 

“Naruto? What are you doing here?” 

Naruto blinks. The way she says his name isn’t violent, isn’t annoyed, but genuinely confused. 

The woman frowns at him. “Did you fall in? It’s way too late for you to be outside. Here, I can get you warmed up.” 

She begins to move Naruto towards some houses in the distance, but the two robins are suddenly people, and Kosuke and Rumi stare her down. The woman tenses immediately, black eyes swirling red. 

“Uchiha-san,” Kosuke said, and in the dark Naruto can barely see him. “We need you to let go of the boy.” 

“No,” the Uchiha woman snarls back, and Naruto is surprised at her rage. “Who are you? You think you can just _kidnap_ him?” 

“It’s two against one, Uchiha-san,” Rumi says, and she sounds almost _bored._ “Don’t make this difficult for yourself.” 

In response, the Uchiha woman takes a sword out of her _arm,_ which, _cool,_ and rushes forward, meeting Rumi-san’s kunai. Rumi-san’s eyes flash, and the two begin to fight. Naruto cannot keep up with their speed.

“Who are you?” the woman demands again, and she sounds so _angry_. Naruto would flinch back if he could. “Did you think you could get away with kidnapping a _jinchuriki_?”

 _Jinchuriki_. Naruto’s never heard that word before. 

Rumi doesn’t answer. The two blur together once more, and finally, the black-haired woman has the upper hand, with a sword to Rumi’s throat. 

Next to him, Kosuke, who had been quiet, makes a small noise, and golden chains emerge from his body. Naruto takes a step back. The chains shoot forward towards the Uchiha woman, who seems to dodge them reflexively, before stilling. 

“Uzumaki,” she breathes, turning back to Kosuke with wide red eyes. “You’re part of the Uzumaki clan.”

“And you have experience with chakra chains,” Rumi says, with a sword still at her throat. Copper chains erupt from her, and the Uchiha woman takes a step back. “ _How.”_

The Uchiha woman stares at Kosuke, then Rumi, then back. “Kushina was my genin teammate. I was there when she awakened her chains in the first place.” 

Kosuke inhales sharply, and it’s the first time Naruto sees him upset. “And you left Princess Kushina’s son to live alone?” 

“You think it’s my choice?” The Uchiha woman shoots back. “Have you _seen_ the Hokage?” 

Something about the heartbreak in her voice unsettles Naruto. Kosuke and Rumi relax. 

“What did you plan to do with him?” The woman asks. 

Kosuke scoffs. “Why would we tell you?” 

The Uchiha woman sighs, and, hand on her chest, looks up at the stars. “As the warrior watches, as the vermillion bird flies, as the dragon watches, and as the tiger defends, I _swear_ , no harm will come to Naruto as long as you tell me the truth.”

Rumi’s jaw dropped. “She taught you the Celestials, Uchiha-san?” 

The Uchiha woman nodded, before staring back at him. “Mikoto. My name is Mikoto.”

Rumi and Kosuke look at each other, nod once, and their henges drop. Uchiha Mikoto steps back as she takes in Rumi. 

“You look just like Kushina,” she whispers. Rumi nods. 

“Our mothers were sisters,” She responded quietly. “As none of Kushina’s sisters are available, It’s my responsibility to make sure Naruto is safe.” Kosuke nods behind her. 

“Where did you want to go?” Mikoto asks. 

“Home. Uzushio grows by night, and the Uzumaki are building a village that will never fall.” 

Mikoto’s face spasms. “Kushina always thought she was the last one.” She straightens a moment later, glancing at Naruto. “Can you promise that he’ll be safe?” 

Rumi laughs without humor. “We're shinobi, what is safe?” When she sobers, she adds, “We can promise a village that will treat him far better than this one ever will.” 

Mikoto sags. “You’re right,” she says, “I—you’re right. The Uchiha clan is on the cusp of change, but…” she trails off. 

A moment later, she turns back to them. “I will not stop you, but there is something I want to give to you. Can you wait here for a moment?” 

Kosuke shifts. “We’re behind schedule, so please hurry.” 

Mikoto blurs.

A minute or two later, she’s back, with a scroll in her hands. She walks over to Naruto, and folds him into a hug. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. Naruto shakes in confusion. 

When she pulls back, a scroll is pressed into his hand. She steps back, looking at Rumi for a moment, then glancing away, as if even looking upset her. 

“Kushina’s fuinjutsu notes are in there. I kept them after she passed.” 

Kosuke stares at her, before bowing. “Those….are invaluable, Uchiha-san. Thank you.” 

Mikoto nods. “It’s the least I could do.” She pauses. "When you get back to Uzushio, can you give me a sign that you're safe? Please?" 

Rumi stares at Kosuke, then looks back at Mikoto. "We can send a summons." 

Mikoto smiles, full of relief. She turns back to Naruto with a small smile, bittersweet but there. “Take care of yourself, Naruto-kun. Your mother would want you to be happy.” 

Rumi bows to Mikoto, before placing a hand on her chest. 

"May the great turtle lead your path, may the dragon protect your crops, may the tiger guard your back, and may the vermillion bird guide you home."

Nostalgia flashes across Mikoto’s face, then it’s gone, and she repeats the gesture. Naruto shivers in the cold. 

“We should go,” Rumi says. She waves at Mikoto, as does Kosuke. Naruto sidles up in between them. It’s the three of them now, until they finally reach Uzushio. 

They disappear into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a weird one. I was thinking about how easy it would have been to kidnap naruto when he was younger, and I thought I would choose some random village to kidnap him, but I decided to go for the fluffiest, nicest route possible lmao. 
> 
> I'm also sleep-deprived—this is kinda (really) rushed. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t know why I wrote this in one day but here we go. This is a bit more Uzumaki-clan centric than I thought it would be, but that’s alright. Also, I’m not tagging this as ‘female Uzumaki Naruto’ because it really isn’t, but I’m using female pronouns because it’s a female Uzumaki clan member in a Naruto henge. 

For 50 days, no one knows about Uzumaki Naruto’s kidnapping. 

“Naruto” gets up with a smile, ribs his sensei about getting ramen, goes to the market, and comes back to his apartment to sleep. He doesn’t pull as many pranks, sure, but “Naruto” smiles and continues on with his life. 

And if there are strange sigils in the doodles on the back of his half-completed assignments, or “Naruto” knows answers to questions he shouldn’t, Iruka-sensei doesn’t notice. No one does. 

* * *

Rumi, aware of the way her young cousin behaved, goes about her day with pathological exuberance. Even with Uzumaki energy, Naruto is bright and loud and Rumi doesn’t understand _how_ he keeps his energy up while having ramen every night. 

She runs, she pranks, she eats a worrying amount of ramen, and she watches as the Uchiha woman, Mikoto, stares at her from across the market, but does not tell a soul of her true identity. 

Rumi’s not paranoid; she’s gone over the plan with Kosuke so often she could recite it in her sleep. Her chakra resonates with Naruto’s more out of the two of them, so it made sense for the shadow clones to be from her chakra. The Sandaime was a great sensor, not as good as the Nidaime, but prolific nonetheless. The Yamanaka were also worrisome, and Rumi did not want to risk a mind walk any time soon. So Kosuke and Rumi had kept their distance, and observed their clan member’s interactions. They wore henges to hide their features, and operated in the background while they got everything prepared. 

She spent _months_ tweaking her seals to carry enough chakra to supply five clones, and even longer calculating the chakra drain of static shadow clones per day in comparison to active ones. The seals needed to be placed in order, and the clones needed to be dispelled in order. The last clone would need almost 6 times the amount of chakra in its seal to last the time of the other clones as well as the average week or so of its own.

Her first tries with water clones ended up with them exploding. Earth clones were no better. A rock clone may have worked, but Rumi was far from an Iwa ninja. 

Eventually, after spending weeks skulking around Konoha in a henge, she found an Anbu with fizzing electric chakra using the shadow clone, and practiced the hand seals until she _got it_. 

No more working with elements. No more worry over a clone blowing up. No more Kosuke laughing at her in Konoha’s forests.

So much work, but _so worth it_ for Kushina’s son, and so worth it for the last Uzumaki to leave Konoha. 

When Sarutobi Hiruzen sits with her for ramen, she thinks of his inevitable reaction when he finds out his ‘ward’ is long gone, and laughs extra loudly. 

* * *

The first clone lasts 13 days, the most any clone would last. Rumi purposely fails a test, and sits through Iruka-sensei’s lecture on chakra natures. She pours paint into the most basic of storage seals and releases them on the Hokage monument, making sure to cover Sarutobi’s face. 

The Sandaime stares at her when she’s dragged into the Hokage’s office, with the sodden seals intact. 

“Naruto, did you _make_ these?” 

Rumi rubs the back of her head. “Iruka-sensei had a couple in his office and I copied them. It was _easy_ , ‘ttebane!” 

His eyes widen slightly, and Rumi wishes she could curse out loud. Who could blame her for getting Kushina and Naruto's catchphrases confused? How did Naruto even know the catchphrase anyway?

The Sandaime doesn’t seem to notice her dilemma. “You still shouldn’t paint the monument Naruto, that will take time and effort to take off.” He frowns. “I thought you wanted to be Hokage? Hokage’s can’t act like this if they want to be in office.” 

_Hokages are also supposed to be wise, old man._

Still, Rumi deflates on cue. 

“You’ll be cleaning the paint off after school for the next week. If it happens again, I’ll have to cut your stipend so it’s for food only.” 

If she could, she would scream. The dumb stipend was enough for a consistent diet of _cup ramen_ , something 7-year-olds shouldn’t be eating religiously if they actually wanted to grow. 

“Fine, jiji,” she replies, sulking. It honestly didn’t matter, she didn’t really _have_ to eat as a clone, and she only got ramen to keep up appearances. If Sarutobi wants to cut the allowance, so be it. It wasn’t like it would matter for long. 

It’s when her forehead starts to burn a bit uncomfortably that she realizes the seal is fading. She needs to _go._

“Okay I'll clean the monument butIgottago bye Jiji!” She exclaims, running out of sight, and leaving paint footprints in her path. 

When she gets into her apartment, she activates a small barrier seal, and dispels herself. The next clone stumbles out of the closet, dusts itself off, and makes dinner. The ramen tastes disgusting, but she forces it down. There’s an Anbu watching her tonight, and she needs to keep up appearances. 

(Rumi gets the memories on the boat. Kosuke glances at her from where he’s holding Naruto on his shoulders, the boy staring wide-eyed at the gods Kosuke points out in the constellations. She holds up a hand, and puts down 1 finger.) 

* * *

The second clone lasts only a week. She should have expected it. 

Cleaning the monument had been a _lot_ of work, and the supplies they gave her sucked. On one hand… It was her fault. On the other….well. She just didn’t want to do it! 

Then there was a surprise fitness test at the Academy, which she could do well in but not _too_ well in. There was supposed to be a sparring match in a few weeks, and Rumi hoped she wasn’t the clone who had to deal with that. 

This time, the second clone dispels while she’s in the forest. Panicked, the third clone immediately launches towards the forest, but no anbu is watching her. She breathes a sigh of relief. That was close. 

(On the island, Rumi gets the memories as she’s teaching her remaining clan members the shadow clone. Naruto and a few other children learn to catch fish on the beach. Now, construction can increase exponentially.) 

* * *

(In Fire country, seven-year-old Uchiha Sasuke tracks his mother to the Naka, tending to a small colorful bird he’s never seen before, with red and orange feathers. The bird seems to state him down. His mother smiles at the bird, feeding it some seeds. 

“Mama? Is that your bird?” 

Mother shakes her head, with a strange smile. “No, this bird’s far from home. But it’s pretty, right?” 

Sasuke reaches a hand out, and runs a finger down the bird’s feathers. It preens once, softly, butting Mother’s hand, before flying away. Mother watches it go with bright eyes.)

* * *

Rumi’s smarter with the third clone. It lasts 10 days. A mixture of meditation, diet, and luck seems to be her best bet. As long as she doesn’t dispel in front of anyone, she’s golden. 

Rumi meditates on the Yondaime’s head one morning, pensive. 

There was a reason no Uzumaki sought refuge in Konoha. Mito-sama called for an Uzumaki to come to Konoha to pass on her legacy, and only the last daughter of the royal line had eligible chakra. Reluctantly, at Mito-sama’s (Senju-sama, they started saying sourly) behest, the clan sent Princess Kushina to Konoha. Soon, Uzushio fought in a Second Shinobi War that wasn’t theirs, because Konoha needed help, because it was Konoha’s war. 

And what happened? Uzushio fell. Iwa and Kiri teamed up for a slaughter. The Land of Waves and its village of Whirlpools fell to squalor. Konoha didn’t send aid. Konoha didn’t help the refugees. 

Her mother, crushed by rubble, pushed her weakly towards Fuso-nee, told them both to _run, by the Celestials, run, and don’t come back!_

Of the 8 daughters of Uzushio’s main line, it was only Fuso that Rumi saw. Nanami, headstrong firstborn, had gone to fight, and hadn’t come back. Fuso, always more of a healer than a fighter, had baby Nagato in her arms. Ren and Chiasa’s corpses lay broken on the destroyed street. Etsu and Sachi had been on one of the fleeing boats that sunk with Kiri’s herding. Kairi was nowhere to be found. 

There was no time to bury anyone. They had to _run_. 

They had been a small group. Fuso-nee and her healing tears and Ise and Hikaru-kun and Kosuke and others from the island, fleeing to the mainland as fast as they could. Running, running, always hungry, because Uzumaki vitality meant Uzumaki hunger, and they could not function on empty. Fuso gave most of her food to Nagato, and Ise gave most of his food to Fuso, and the entire tiny family looked like they were on their last legs.

But they were attacked. Noticeable red hair and sunken cheeks. They never could fool anyone. And Fuso-nee and Ise split off while they fled. 

And so they splintered. 

Fuso-nee. Ise. Hikaru-kun. One by one until the end of the Second War, when it was her and Kosuke with mastered henges and bitterness holding them together. 

Still, they didn’t turn to Konoha. Forget the spiral on their jackets, Uzushio lent scrolls upon scrolls of fuinjutsu, daughters of Uzushio’s king to be used as brides and living weapons, and Konoha did nothing in return.   
  
There was no word from Kushina, but rumors of Kumo kidnapping a girl with red hair from Konoha. They feared the worst. They kept pushing, taking odd jobs to make ends meet and hiding their vitality with aging henges. 

When the Third war rolled around, less than a decade later, they finally trekked back to Wave Country, 24 and tired. 

The place was in squalor. The towns poor and barren, the ground overharvested and brittle. 

And Uzushio was wreckage and rubble. Looted for its remaining fuinjutsu. Bones and skeletons littered the ground. 

In her grief, Rumi destroyed the remaining rubble of the old boats in the harbor. She set up a barrier seal, filled it with as much chakra as she could spare, and together, she and Kosuke gathered the bones to begin a mass burial. 

Worship in Uzu always started at night, when the gods were in full view. The great turtle in the north, the dragon in the east, the vermillion bird in the south, and the white tiger in the west. There were so many bones that after the three weeks it took them both to gather all the bones they can find, they began burning hours beforehand, to make sure they could spread the ashes into the sea before the stars faded. 

They named as many as she could, but they had been kids when they left, and lived a life on the run. So much had slipped from their minds in their time away. Kosuke wept bitterly on the shore. 

But maybe the gods were watching. And after every bone had been burned, so many ashes that the sea appeared to darken from the weight of them, Rumi and Kosuke found the repository. Because their ancestors were clever beings who could create seals with half a thought, and Uzushio’s legacy had dimmed, but had not died. 

The repository’s seal required blood. Too much, maybe—Rumi and Kosuke fainted while trying to open it. She realized that maybe the seal required so much blood because it was meant for a group. They didn’t have that luxury. 

They found money. Clothes, documents, fancy sealing paper, legacies that had been preserved. All 6 noble clans of Uzushio: the Uzumaki, the Nakajima, the Usui, the Takai, the Koizumi, and the Shishido. 

Uzushio would never be the same. But it wouldn’t die either. 

(If only they were a bit faster, maybe they would have been able to catch Kushina before she died. But the news of the nine tails shook them to their core.)

They spread out, sensing for any familiar chakra. Rumi and Kosuke found a few: Uzumaki with red hair shorn to the scalp, children who had never known Uzu but had absorbed the fear of being discovered. They used Uzu’s hand signs, they spoke the remaining words they knew of their dialect to find others. 

Not everyone would believe. Not everyone would come. But that was okay. Rumi and Kosuke had been willing to scout as far as they could to tell people that Uzushio was far from gone. 

The older people of Wave looked at their gathering with hope, offered their meager supplies and construction for the hope of protection. Uzushio began to grow, quietly, but steadily. Rumi constructed barrier seals that would only let people in with blood. Other sensors from the clan scanned each person coming into the growing village for danger. Everyone wore temporary silencing seals, forbidding them from mentioning Uzushio to others. They were paranoid, and for good reason. 

It had been Kosuke’s idea to check Konoha. ‘Just in case someone slipped through the cracks,’ he’d said. Rumi was doubtful. 

“And if the mask temple is still up, maybe we can bring some back.” 

_That_ made her agree. 

Another point against the Sandaime was the ruined masked temple they came across on the outskirts of the village—nothing had been preserved. She tucked away the intact masks she could see (one of these could help summon the Shinigami, was Sarutobi _blind_?)

But the worst thing they found: a small blond-haired boy bursting with Uzumaki chakra, chakra so familiar to Kushina’s that Rumi wanted to cry. 

And Konoha treated him like trash. 

They’d been furious. Kosuke wanted to rip him out of the village then and there. But they’d planned, and gaining Naruto’s trust was worryingly easy. If they had been anyone else, Iwa or Kumo or Kiri, Naruto’s life could have been in grave danger. 

_Like the neglect wasn’t grave enough,_ she thought sourly.

But it had all been okay. It was okay, because Naruto was safe, and the Yondaime could curse her from the Shinigami’s stomach for taking his son away from Konoha, but Naruto has been and always would be Uzushio’s. 

Kushina paid Uzushio’s loyalty to Konoha with her freedom, her blood, and her life. Naruto had no need to do the same. 

Rumi was pulled out of her musings by a crackling fire chakra. 

“You know, normally Naruto is too enthusiastic to sit in one place at a time.” 

Uchiha Mikoto stands behind her with an indecipherable look. 

“I’m hoping that by sitting on his father’s head, I’m making the Hokage just a bit nervous.” 

Mikoto blinks. “You know?” 

“What do you take me for?” Rumi snorts. “I’ve looked at Naruto for more than five seconds. Besides, Naruto’s seal is all Uzu. Only an Uzumaki would know those seals.” 

Mikoto smiles. “Kushina taught Minato everything she knew.” 

Rumi hums, saying nothing. 

“Is he safe?” The Uchiha matriarch asks. “I saw your summon.”

Rumi smiles up at the rising sun. “From what I know, Boss and Kosuke reached the island a few days ago. They’re trying to teach Naruto how to fish.” 

And Mikoto smiles, full of relief. “I’m glad.” 

* * *

(The clone dispels as Rumi’s helping Kosuke and Naruto make dinner. Naruto didn’t know what chanpuru was when he first stepped on the island, but he sure knows now. He still gazes at Rumi and Kosuke like they’re the gods themselves when they give him dinner or kiss his forehead before bed. That’s fine. He’ll learn in time that they’ll always be there for him.) 

* * *

The fourth clone lasts a little longer at 11 days. The date of the sparring matches looms closer, and Rumi’s not sure what to do. She’ll have to dispel before then. 

They have a sealing lesson in the Academy, something Rumi is marginally excited for, but it’s just about how to activate and deactivate a storage seal. Rumi sighs loudly in her seat, ready for a nap, when Iruka asks her to activate the most basic of seals in front of the class. 

She’s supposed to be subtle, she _k_ nows. But it’s been 35 days since Boss and Kosuke left with the kid and she’s _bored_. 

So she walks to the front of the class and takes some sealing paper and a brush, ignoring Iruka’s squawk. She draws another barebones storage seal (as messy as possible, she’s reckless but she’s seen Naruto’s handwriting, she’s not stupid), seals the original seal inside, and yells about how she’s better than everyone else, even Sasuke. 

Iruka stares at her with wide eyes as she makes her way back to her seat. 

* * *

The Hokage asks her about the seal the next day. He says she has real talent, that she’s a prodigy. 

(She’s not. Even as a kid, she had been good at them, but not great, like Kushina. Want to see a real sealing prodigy? That would be Princess Kairi, who invented the whole seal-based henge so she could go to the library unimpeded. Don’t need to worry about being seen if you’ve already put chakra in an external storage seal outside your chakra network and it’s consistently applied to your body.) 

Rumi reacts like she thinks Naruto would: wide eyes, and a hesitant smile, like being praised is something foreign. 

Still, the Sandaime doesn’t mention Uzushio _once_ , just calls fuinjutsu a lost art, and maybe naruto could be the next fuinjutsu expert of the village, like the fourth Hokage was. 

Not one mention of Kushina or Mito-sama or _any_ Uzumaki. Rumi smiles wide with her eyes closed, so he doesn’t see her anger. 

* * *

To be honest, the fifth clone dispels because she’s an idiot. It lasted nine days, and it might have been able to last longer. 

She knows after this, Konoha will go into a frenzy. Rumi uses the rest of the money she has frivolously and decides she wants to go out with a bang. 

Rumi uses the rest of Sarutobi’s orphan stipend and her leftover money from Uzushio to buy massive sealing paper. The Sandaime somehow finds out and tells her not to get into trouble. 

(The Sandaime is also an idiot.)

She writes five of the most basic Konoha-style storage seals she can, as blown up as possible, and seals paint, glitter, and glue into all of them. With her seals locked and loaded, she hides one in the grass by the Hokage Monument, another in training field 44, one behind the Academy, one in the Hokage Tower, and another in her apartment. When they eventually search for Naruto, they’ll never be able to get it out of their clothes. 

Pretending to be a seven-year-old for almost two months hasn’t made her immature. She’s just….sending a message. 

The day of the sparring matches has come, and Rumi tried skipping class, but Iruka had found her by the park, and tried to drag her to the Academy. Wary of the teacher’s grip and her own fragile lifespan, Rumi followed immediately. 

Naruto is paired up with Uchiha Sasuke. She jumps up in character, ready to pretend to want to spar until they got to the training field where she would _book_ it, but she trips. 

Rumi is 37. She had _just_ become a genin when Uzushio fell, but she had spent almost 3 decades on the run, living and fighting and _surviving_. She’s taken bounties for A-rank missing-nin and won, she’s taught herself Uzushio’s invisible sealing method. 

Rumi still trips over her pant leg, and lands with a thud. 

She barely has time to mutter a curse when she dispels. 

* * *

In Uzushio, it’s morning, and the fishermen are pulling in nets heavy with grouper and tuna. There aren’t enough Uzumaki for them to use their chakra chains in tandem, but the citizens of Wave make it work for their tiny, budding shinobi village. 

On the western beaches lies a moderately sized home. The house of the Uzu leader, Kosuke calls it, but Rumi doesn’t consider herself one. She’s just a placeholder until someone from the actual royal line can take up the mantle. 

Kosuke laughs at her bedhead, and they both get up to start their routine: Rumi helps oversee further construction and direct resources, while Kosuke prepares breakfast and oversees the civilians and neighboring towns. Today though, Rumi decides to follow Kosuke for just a bit longer. 

Naruto hadn’t believed them when they showed him his room, a small room with the best view of the ocean, just down the hall from their own space. He stared at the bed for a long minute, cataloguing the bed, the desk, and the dresser, already filled with clothes in white, orange, and Uzu blue. 

He had burst into tears. Rumi panicked, Kosuke panicked, but Naruto had turned to them with wide blue eyes. 

“It’s really all for me?” he whispered, quieter than Rumi had ever heard him, and her heart broke. She nodded, and he ran in for a hug. 

It hadn’t been two months yet, and Naruto still looked so heartbreakingly unsure when Kosuke tried to pick him up from school, or Rumi showed him basic seals after dinner. But they’d get to a day where Naruto saw love as the norm, not an exception. 

Kosuke knocks on Naruto’s door. “If you want to eat breakfast before you leave, you better be up, hatchling. Ichirou-sensei will kill me if you’re late.” 

The Academy hadn’t been built yet, but the kids (28 of them: 9 Uzumaki, 6 Shishido, 5 Usui, 4 Takai, 3 Koizumi, 1 Nakajima, but who’s counting?) gathered by the beaches on the northern shores to learn. 

There’s a muffled crash, followed by an _almost ready, ‘ttebayo!_ Rumi laughs. 

Naruto steps out looking like one of Uzushio’s sons: a light blue shirt and dark blue shorts, with his orange jacket thrown on top. It’s too hot for it, but he refuses to take it off. Naruto grins widely when he sees her, jumping into her arms when she crouches down. 

“Auntie! Are you eating breakfast with us today?” 

She smiles, ruffling his hair when she pulls back. “Sure thing.” She pushes him gently towards the bathroom. “But brush your teeth first!” 

Naruto runs off to brush, and Kosuke smiles as he leaves. 

“How’s he doing?” Rumi asks as they walk to the kitchen. Kosuke shrugs. 

“He’s a bit behind for his age, but Ichirou’s trying to get everyone on the same level, so it’s nothing too worrisome.” Kosuke radiates a quiet pride as he grabs juice for Naruto, and pours tea for the both of them. “Naruto’s doing well with the foundations of seals already.”

Today Kosuke’s made miso. Rumi smiles as she tucks in. 

“Kushina would be pro—” 

Memories rush her: the clone dispelled in front of a classroom of children, right in front of the instructor. The last clone. 

Kosuke takes a spoonful of miso, deceptively relaxed. “What is it?” 

Rumi breathes out. It’s unfortunate, untimed, but it was going to happen sometime. 

“That’s five. Beware the falling leaves,” Rumi murmurs. Kosuke breathes out, and a hand snakes around Naruto’s juice to wrap around her own. His lips quirk to form her one of her favorite smiles. And just like that, it was like they were 15 again, running alone through the backwoods of countries to stay alive under different names and faces. 

“From what we saw of Konoha, they’ll never know where to look. Any tracks we might have left are long gone. They’ll check the other four great nations before they even think of the smaller ones.” His smile turned jagged. “And why would they even check a poor wartorn country like Wave?”

“And if they do come?” Rumi asks quietly. She can hear Naruto’s footsteps from down the hall. They’d have to change subjects soon. 

Kosuke’s gray eyes burn. “Then let them come. We’re more than ready.” 

* * *

The village is quiet, and she doesn’t trust it. 

There’s always something happening here—politics of the village irritated her to no end, because there was never a moment of rest, never a moment where she felt like she could let down her guard. She had no allies here to speak of, and she had no _friends_.

Then again, she thought, she’d been running her entire life, ever since Uzushio crumbled into the sea and she’d left her sisters' corpses in the rubble. 

It’s difficult to remember the curve of Nanami nee-san’s face, or if Fuso-nee’s eyes were grey or dark blue, if Etsu loved seashells or turtles, or Sachi’s favorite food. She couldn’t remember if it was Ren or Chiasa that started saying ‘dattebane’, and how all her sisters had joined in. 

Most of all, she could barely remember Kushina, the only little sister she’d had. But she’d been gone even before Uzushio had been reduced to rubble. 

She’d run with Akihito, _four eyes Akihito_ , Kushina used to call him, and they’d survived by hiding in the mountains. When the third war had found them, they hid in the farthest valleys they could reach. 

It was four eyes Akihito who smiled at her and told her he’d loved her as long as he had known her. It was four eyes Akihito who touched the swell of her stomach months later and whispered that he’d love their child no matter what. It was four eyes Akihito who died because his vision was so poor that he walked right into warfare. 

Now everyone was dead. There was no one left in the world that she knew from her youth, and everyone else had already changed their name, cut their hair, and distanced themselves from anything Uzu. She herself had cut her hair because dyes couldn’t cover Uzumaki red no matter how much she tried, and wore henges for the latter part of her life. 

It didn’t matter though, because when she’d had her baby, she had to stop running. She found Kusa, and surrendered her skin and her life to keep her daughter safe. 

And so they _took_. Bite after bite after bite. 

She doesn’t look in the mirror anymore, but she’s aged. She remembers her mother, nearly 60, who looked like another one of her sisters. Her father, tall and proud with spiky red hair down to his knees, who looked like he was in his thirties. 

She cannot look at the lines on her face. She can’t look at the paltry seals of this village. She doesn’t even use her last name anymore—How can she say she’s Uzumaki when she’s hidden from it most of her life? 

Maybe it would have been easier if she had had Fuso-nee’s healing tears. She’d cried long and often after Uzu fell, and in the second and third wars. Now she’s simply exhausted. She sleeps whenever she can, in her small disheveled home. Before, she would use her chains to touch her chakra to her baby’s, an Uzu tradition she never forgot. 

(She remembers feeling Kushina’s burbling chakra, so different from her sisters, too expansive and wide for her age. She remembers how that chakra raged in desolation when Konoha ripped her away.) 

But now she’s tired. And she worries that very soon, when they call her into the hospital, she will lay down and let them _taketaketake_ until there’s nothing left. 

She’s more than ready for her life to end. She wants her mother, and her sisters, and her father. She wants Akihito’s loud laugh and hardened hands. She wants the endless waves of Uzushio, the somin chanpuru Nanami used to make, the endless view of the ocean from Shurijo mansion, her home. 

But her baby…

Her little girl, who’s never known Uzu, who’s never known anything but wariness and fear. Her little girl, who looks at her own red hair with trepidation when they walk outside. 

She looks at her sleeping daughter, her unmarked skin, and despairs. Because she’s ready to die, but she can’t leave her daughter trapped here for a life of servitude. 

There’s been a recent battle (there’s _always_ a battle), and Zosui will be back in the morning to escort her away. But she remembers the rumours she’s heard in neighboring towns: the red-haired people who whispered of Uzushio rising one more time. The glimpses of chakra that feel so familiar, so similar to what she’s known. 

She hasn’t hoped in a long time, but for her daughter, she will. One more time, she will rise to the name Uzumaki, be the princess she was supposed to be. 

One more time, she will be Kairi. 

Kairi gathers their meager supplies, the little money she’s saved over time, and draws her first seal in decades. It comes back to her like breathing as her fingers fly over the sealing paper. 

Money, sealed. Food, sealed. Water, sealed. Clothes, sealed. 

She starts another seal with a small smile, remembering how Kushina and her cousin Rumi wowed at the technique. The seal based henge will not last long, she thinks with a bitter smile. Her life force and chakra have already faded so much over the past decade or so of continuously ‘working’ at the hospital. She can’t store enough chakra for a long-lasting henge like she used to. 

She makes one for herself, one for her daughter. Kairi pauses once more on her daughter’s form. 

They’re valuable, in the way Uzumaki blood and brains and chakra have always been. Kusa’s hospital doesn’t have the robust medical jutsu of the other nations like Suna or Konoha. If Kusa finds out they’ve run, they will chase after them. 

But she _has_ to, for the sake of her daughter. To keep her skin unmarked, after already taking so much of her childhood. 

For a moment, Kairi remembers Akihito’s head on her stomach, listening to their daughter kick and staring at her with adoring eyes. 

_If she’s a girl,_ Akihito says, glasses askew _, I want to name her Karin. After the most beautiful woman I know._

She shakes Karin, watches with a small nostalgic smile as the girl pats around herself blindly for her glasses, before putting them on. 

“Karin-chan,” Kairi whispers with barely a tremor, “Do you want to go on an adventure with me?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun to write. I got the idea of Kushina having 7 sisters from the myth of Kushinada-hime, and I headcanon Uzushio as being like Okinawa (largely in part that they were considered a village of longevity and Okinawa is known for having the largest life expectancy in the world)


End file.
